Full-tank warning device



Feb. 9, 1937. H. J. G. RUDOLF ET AL FULL'TANK WARNING DEVICE Filed March 18, 1936 Patented Feb. 9, 1937 warren srarss PATENT OFFICE FULL-TANK WARNING DEVICE Henry J. G. Rudolf and Mortimer Lenk, Newten, Mass.

Application March 18, 1936, Serial No. 69,430

14 Claims.

usual oil tanks such as hold the supply of fuel oil for a heating system. These tanks, although generally equipped with gauges supposed to show the liquid level, sometimes spill over during filling by reason of carelessness or the failure of the gauges to function properly. The device of the present invention conveys an emphatic warning against spill-over and the waste and damage ini cident thereto even when the person or driver filling the tank is not watching the gauge or tank but, as is usual when oil-delivery is being made, is stationed near the oil-delivery truck as the oil pours from a hose-nozzle of the truck into 3;) the usual pipe leading from the outside of the building to the cellar or other place where the oil tank is stationed.

The device of the present invention consists, generally speaking, of noise-making mechanism installed inside of the tank near its top in the path of the liquid being poured into the tank and actuable to make noise by the impingement of the liquid stream thereupon only until such time as the liquid level in the tank has risen close to its top. The cessation of noise or sound is thus a positive warning or indication to the person or driver filling the tank that the tank is almost full and that the delivery of liquid must be stopped in order to avoid spill-over. More specifically, the device hereof includes a revolvable member carrying a plurality of impulse-receiving elements arranged to receive in succession the impulse of the liquid as it is being poured or streamed into the tank and to revolve the member, suitable noise-making means, preferably of the percussive type, being additionally carried by such member and caused by its revolvement to make noise, which noise-making steps before the tank has been completely filled but after such member and such impulsereceiving elements have been partially subniersed in liquid. The device hereof is additionally characterized by its simplicity and inexpensiveness of construction, its positiveness of oporation, and its ease of installation in all sorts of tanks, including the usual substantially closed oil tanks forming part of a heating system.

With the foregoing and other features and objects in View, the present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawing wherein,

Figure 1 shows a preferred embodiment of the device hereof installed in a tank, only the top portion of the tank being shown in section.

Figure 2 is a perspective view of the device itself on a substantially full-size scale.

Figure 3 is a section on the line 3-3 of Figure 2 and illustrates in dotted outline one of the percussors in striking position.

erally passes from a cellar to the outside of the Such a tank may be provided, as

building.

shown, with another pipe l3 for venting outside of the building such volatile vapors as are emitted by the oilinto the space near the top of the tank; and its top may contain the customary opening i i normally closed by a screw plug or bya liquid-measuring gauge and sometimes opened to enable inspection of the liquid supply in the tank, as by a stick.

The device hereof is shown as comprising a bracket It, for instance, one formed up from .a steel rod of about diameter and comprising a substantially vertical threaded'portion I7 passing through the top H and fastened rigidly to the top as by a pair of outside nuts l8' and. an- Projecting upwardly at an angle inside nut I 3.

from such portion Il may bean upper end portion 9 and projecting downwardly therefrom at an angle may be a portion 29 whose lower end takes a rectilinear turn' toa short transversely extending portion 21 from which emerges rectilineally and horizontally toward an end wall of the tank still another portion 22.

It will, of

course, be appreciated that the disposition of the various portions of the bracket are given relative to a tank'which is to be considered as'being of circular or oval cross section with its axis disposed horizontally and whose end walls are depicted in Figure 1.

The bracket as a whole is rigid or inflexible even though the steel rod'of which it is composed preferably lends itself to ready shaping or bending in appropriate wireworking machinery.

Fixed near the end of the bracket portion 22 and projecting transversely therefrom substantiallyparallelly to the bracket portion 2! is a pin 23 about which an arm 24 is revolvable.

' shown, the arm 24 is tubular and the pin 23 beyond the arm.

, described.

At one end of the arm 24, is a fiat blade or paddle 27 of a width substantially greater than that of the arm; and at the other end portion is a fiat blade or paddle 28 of similar width but of considerably greater length and whose longitudinal medial line extends perpendicularly to the longitudinal medial line or axis of the arm and to that of the other blade 21. Both blades, which may be secured to the arm 24 as by rivets 29 or in any other suitable manner, areof a width less than that of the tank opening I4 so as to permit the device as a whole to be inserted through such opening into the tank, as will presently be described. Preferably, as shown, one blade is secured on one side of the arm and the other on the opposite side. The blades are designed to receive in succession the-impulse of liquid as it is being poured into the tank through the pipe l2 and thus to cause the arm 24 to revolve about the axis 23. One of the blades preferably always comes to rest immediately under the stream of liquid coming into the tank, to which end, the pin 23 may be sufliciently offset from the longitudinal axis of the arm 24, as best appears in Figure 3, so that the blade 27 will normally assume the position shown in Figure 1.

As the arm 24 is caused to revolve by impingement of the liquid stream on the blades 21 and 28, percussors or knockers carried thereby are caused to strike repeatedly against a. suitable sound-emitting target. The percussors may to advantage take the form of a pair of balls 30, for instance, solid steel balls, each of which is oscillatably fixed, as by a pin 3|, 'to an end portion of thearm. Each pin 3| may be flanged at its extremity 32 over one side Wall of the tubular arm 32 and pass through an enlarged opening 33 in the opposite side wall of the arm and in each blade and be driven clear through and fastened to each ball. The balls 30, which are thus on opposite sides of the arm, are caused to swing or oscillate outwardly under the action of centrifugal force as the arm revolves in the direction of the arrows or as indicated in Figure 1.

The operation of the device will now be briefly As the liquid streams downwardly intothe tank to fill it from the level of, say, the dotted line .rx, it impinges first on the blade 21 and thus starts the revolvement of the arm 24, which revolvement continues as the arms 28 and 21 repeatedly receive the impulse ofthe liquid stream. -.As thearm revolves and causes the balls 36 to oscillate outwardly under centrifugal force, the balls repeatedly strike blows against the bracket portion 2| which obstructs their paths sufficiently to emit a decided click or'thud upon impact thereby and which causes them to recede or oscillate inwardly and thus to escape past it. The position of one of the balls 39 as it strikes the sound-emitting target or bracket portion 2! and just before it is caused to oscillate inwardly to clear such portion is shown in dotted line in Figure 3. The hammering or repeated clicks or thuds emitted by the bracket portion 2| are transmitted to the top of the tank by the adjoining or connecting bracket portions; and the clicks or thuds resounding in the tank are carried by the delivery pipe l2 to the outside wherethey are readily audible by the person filling the tank. Indeed, when the usual oil tank is beingfilled, the hammering or repeated clicks or thuds can be heard distinctly at a point remote from the receiving end of the pipe I2, for instance, near the oil delivery truck. The sound emission from the device continues until the device is partially submerged in liquid, that is, untilthe arm 24 and the impulse-receiving blades 2'! and 28 en-' counter such great resistance to their continued movement on account of their partial submergence in liquid that the impulse received thereby from the liquid stream is dissipated or overcome by such resistance. The fact is that the noise or hammering ceases even before the re.-

volvement of the arm 24 stops, since, as the speed of the arm slows down and the balls are resisted by liquid against moving outwardly under centrifugal force, they miss or clear the sound-emit- 28 is sufiiciently extended to induce in the liquid the frictional resistance necessary to stop the operation of the device before it is completely submerged; and it is for such reason that this blade, whichis of considerably greater length than the blade 21 and .presents considerably more stoppage or frictional area than that of the blade 21, is shown with its longitudinal medial line extending perpendicularly to that of the arm 24 and the blade 21, as hereinbefore described. The cessation of noise or sound may take place at the liquid level indicated by the dotted line y-y, that is, at a liquid level close to the top but yet giving ample leeway or margin of 'safetyfor further filling. When the device stopsmaking sound or noise, a warning or indication is thus had that the tank is almost completely filled and that delivery of liquid must be stopped in order to avoid a spill-over.

The device hereinbefore described may be quickly installed in an oil tank of the conventional type as well as in various other kinds of tanks. Thus, an opening may be drilled through the top of the tank at the locality where the threaded bracket portion 9 is to'be fixed in place. The plug I5 is then removed from the opening l4 and a wire of appropriate predetermined curvature is thrust through the drilled opening until its free end portion passes out through the opening I4. The free end portion of the wire is then tied to the bracket at the portion 9, as by being threaded through an opening 8 near its end and tied into a knot, and the device is inserted into the tank through the opening M. of the'device is made by first passing the blade 28 through the opening 14 and then turning the device so that the arm 24, the blade 21, and the bracket follow down through the opening. At the same time as the blade 2'! is passing through theiopening, t e bracket portion 22 should be o alongsideof the corresponding sideedge of the blade 2'! so that the rest of the bracket may go through into the tank without diiiiculty. Of

The insertion course, as the device is being inserted into the has previously been engaged with the threaded bracket portion l'l, stops the upward movement of the bracket at the desired point so that the pair of nuts 18 may then be fastened in place on the outside, as shown in Figure 1.

It is possible to embody the inventive principles hereof in devices other than the preferred embodiment hereof hereinbefore described and illustrated in the drawing. Thus, the impulsereceiving blades may take the form of cup-shaped elements which are repeatedly filled with liquid as it is pouring into the tank and are emptied as the rotary member on which they are mounted rotates. Indeed, the impulse-receiving elements and the rotary member by which they are carried may assume generally the form of a so-called water Wheel. The sound-emitting target which is struck by the percussors carried by the rotary member may, if desired, be a bell, bar, or other element capable of emitting a pleasing or musical note when struck. 0n the other hand, it is possible to dispense with a sound-emitting target which emits repeated clicks, thuds, or notes, and to provide suitable sound-emitting means capable of making a constant racket during the filling of the tank. Thus, the rotary member might carry hollow balls containing shot which sets up a continuous racket or rattle as it is being tumbled inside of the balls under rotary movement. Various other changes or modifications of the invention hereof might be made Without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

We claim: A

1. The combination with a liquid-holding tank having a top and a liquid inlet through its top, of a noise-making device inside of said tank near its top, said device including a revolvable member, a plurality of impulse-receiving elements carried by said member and arranged to receive in succcession the impulse of liquid as it streams through said inlet and thereby to revolve said member, and noise-making means carried by said member and actuated by the revolvement of said member to make noise, the revolvement of said member and the attendant noise stopping before the tank has been completely filled but after said member and said impulse-receiving elements have been partially submersed in liquid.

2. The combination with a liquid-holding tank having a top and a liquid inlet through its top, of a noise-making device inside of said tank near its top, said device including a revolvable member, a plurality of impulse-receiving blades car ried by said member and arranged to receive in succession the impulse of liquid as it streams through said inlet and thereby to revolve said member, at least one of said blades normally coming to rest directly in the path of the liquid streaming through said inlet, and noise-making means carried by said member and actuated by the revolvement of said member to make noise, the revolvement of said member and the attendant noise stopping before the tank has been completely filled but after said member and said impulse-receiving elements have been partially submersed in liquid.

3. The combination with a liquid-holding tank having a top and a liquid inlet through its top, of a sound-making device inside of said tank near its top, said device including a revolvable member, a plurality of impulse-receiving elements carried by said member and arranged to receive in succession the impulse of liquid as it streams through said inlet and thereby to revolve said member, percussion means carried by said revolvable member, and a sound-emitting target arranged to be struck repeatedly by said percussion means as said revolvable member is being revolved, the revolvement of said member and the attendant sound-emission ceasing before the tank has been completely filled but after said member and said impulse-receiving elements have been partially submersed in liquid.

4. The combination with a liquid-holding tank having a top and a liquid inlet through its top, of a sound-making device inside of said tank near its top, said device including a revolvable member, a plurality of impulse-receiving elements carried by said member and arranged to receive in succession the impulse of liquid as it streams through said inlet and thereby to revolve said member, a plurality of percussors carried by said revolvable member, and a sound-emitting target connected to the top of said tank and arranged to be struck repeatedly by said percussors as said revolvable member is being rotated, the revolvement of said member and the attendant soundemission ceasing before the tank has been completely filled but after said member and said impulse-receiving elements have been partially submersed in liquid.

5. The combination with a liquid-holding tank having a top and a liquid inlet through its top, of a sound-making device inside of said tank near its top, said device including a revolvable arm, an impulse-receiving blade fixed to each end portion of said arm and adapted to receive the impulse of liquid as it streams downwardly through said inlet and thereby to revolve said arm, the

axis of revolution of said arm being substantially horizontal and midway of its length, a percussor oscillatably fixed to each end portion of said arm, and a sound-emittin target arranged to be struck repeatedly by said percussors as said revolvable arm is being revolved, the revolvement of said arm and the attendant sound-emission ceasing before the tank has been completely filled but after said arm and said impulse-receiving blades have been partially submersed in liquid.

6. The combination with a liquid-holding tank having a top and a liquid inlet through its top, of a sound-making device inside of said tank near its top, said device including a revolvable arm,

an impulse-receiving blade fixed to each end por-- tion of said arm and adapted to receive the impulse of liquid as it streams downwardly through said inlet and thereby to revolve said arm, the axis of revolution of said arm being substantially horizontal and midway of its length and being so arranged as to cause one of said blades always to come to rest directly in the path of liquid poured through said inlet, a percussor oscillatably fixed to each end portion of said arm, and a soundemitting target arranged to be struck repeatedly by said percussors as said revolvable. arm is being revolved, the revolvement of said arm and the attendant sound-emission ceasing before the tankhas been completely filled but after said arm and said impulse-receiving blades have been partially submersed in liquid.

7. The combination with a liquid-holding tank having a top and a liquid inlet through its top, of a sound-making device inside of said tank near its top, said device including a revolvable arm, an impulse-receiving blade fixed to each end por,- tion of said arm and adapted to receive the impulse of liquid as it streams downwardly through said inlet and thereby to revolve said arm, a pin about which said arm revolves passing through said arm substantially horizontally and midway of its length, a percussoroscillatably fixed to each end portion of said arm, and a bracket fixed toand projecting downwardly from the top of said tank by which said pin is supported, said bracket having a top, a liquid-delivery pipe communicat-v ing with the tank through its top, and a normally closed opening in its top, of a noise-making device inside of said tank near its top, said device including a revolvable arm, an impulse-receiving blade fixed to each end portion of said arm and adapted to receive the impulse of liquid as it is being poured through said inlet and thereby to revolve said arm, both of said blades having a Width somewhat less than that of said top opening but one of said blades being of much greater length than its width and being arranged with its longitudinal medial line substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal medial line of said arm and to that of the other blade, a percussor oscillatably fixed to each endportion of said arm, a pin about which said arm revolves, and a bracket fixed to and projecting downwardly from'the top of said tank by which said pin is supported, said bracket including a noise-emitting portion arranged to be struck repeatedly by said percussors as said arm is being revolved and said device as a whole being insertable through said top opening into said tank, the revolvement of said arm and the attendant noise-emission ceasing before the tank has been completely filled but after said arm and said impulse-receiving blades have been par- .tially submersed in liquid.

9., The combination with a substantially closed liquid-holding tank having a liquid inlet through its top, of noise-making mechanism inside of said tank near its-top, said mechanism being arranged in the path of liquid streaming downwardly through said inlet and being actuable by impingement of liquid thereon to emit noise but only until the liquid level in said tank has risen close to its top. 10. The combination with a liquid-holding tank having a top, a liquid-delivery pipe communicating with the tank through its top, and a normally closed opening in its top, of a noise-making device inside of said tank near its top, said device being insertible as a whole through said top openinginto said tank and including a revolvable member, a plurality of impulse-receiving elements carried by said member and arranged to receive in succession the impulse of liquid as it streams through said inlet and thereby to revolve said member, and noise-making means carried by said member and actuated by the revolvement of said member to make noise, the revolvement of said member and the attendant noise stopping before the tank'has been completely filled but after said member and said impulse-receiving elements have been partially submersed in liquid.

11. The combination with a liquid-holding tank having a top, a liquid-delivery pipe communicating with the tank through its top, and a normally closed opening in its top, of a noise-making device inside of said tank near its top, said device being insertable as a whole through said top opening into said tank and including a bracket fixed to and projecting downwardly from the top of I said tank, a member revolvably secured to said bracket, a plurality of impulse-receiving elements carried by said member and arranged to receive in succession the impulse of liquid as it streams through said inlet and thereby to revolve said member, and percussion means carried by said revolvable member, said bracket presenting a sound-emitting target portion in position .to be struck repeatedly by said percussion means as said revolvable member is being revolved, the revolvement of said member and the attendant sound-emissionceasing before the tank has been completely filled but after said member and said impulse-receiving elements have been partially submersed in liquid. 12. The combination with a liquid-holdin tank having a top and a liquid inlet through its top, of a sound-making device inside of said tank near its top, said device including a revolvable arm, an impulse-receiving blade carried at an end portion of said arm, a pivot about which said arm revolves, a percussor oscillatably fixed to an end portion of said arm, and a bracket fixed to and projecting downwardly from the top of said tank by which said pivot is supported, said bracket including a sound-emitting portion arranged to be struck repeatedly by said percussor as said arm is being revolved, the revolvement' of said arm and the attendant sound-emission ceasing before the tank has been completelyfilled but after said device has been partially submersed in liquid.

13. The combination with a substantially closed tank for holding; fuel oil installed in the cellar of a building and having a pipe leading from its top to the outside of the building, of noisemaking mechanism inside of said tank near its top adapted to warn against spill-overs when oil 7 delivery is being made into said tank from' the outside of the building through said pipe, said mechanism including means actuated by the impingement thereon of oil flowing through said pipe into said tank to cause said tank wall to transmit noise but only until the liquid level in said tank has risen close to its top, said noise being transmitted from said tank wall by said pipe to the outside of the building so as to be readily audible by the person filling the tank and cessation of said noise thus being an indication to said person that the tank is almost full.

14. The combination with a tank for holding fuel oil installed in the cellar of a buildingand having a pipe leading from its top to the outside 5 of the building, of noise-making mechanism inside of said tank near its top adapted to warn against spill-overs when oil delivery is being 7 made into said tank from the outside of the building through said pipe, said mechanism including a target rigidly secured to the tank wall and adapted upon being struck to 'emit noise and means actuated by, the impingement thereon of 'oil flowing through said pipe into said tank to strike said target repeatedly and thus to cause,

said noise thus being an indication to said person that the tank is almost full. HENRY J. G. RUDOLR. MORTIMER LENK. 

